In the centuries following the Black Death, the Church was unable to provide adequate schooling for lack of people and revenues. Consequently, the prescriptive and normative influence of schools in matters of grammar and orthography was significantly diminished, causing a rapid mutation of the national tongue. By the 16th century, the Norwegian vernacular had roughly developed into the modern dialects we know today. The old language had been forgotten.

Kalinke, M. (1991): “Translator or Redactor? The problem of Old Norse-Icelandic Translations from Old French Literature,” in New Comparison: 12: (Translation in the Middle Ages). Roger Ellis (Ed.). Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.